Kisses for Cupcakes!

On Thursday, as I finished preparing ingredients for the meal I was cooking for friends the following night,   (chopping, cooking beans, etc.), I checked to see if I could do anything in advance for the dessert I was making. I opened up the cookbook, and realized I was missing a few key ingredients, namely cream cheese. Since I refused to go out to buy ingredients, I looked for something else that might suit.

Since I'd been jonesing for chocolate lately, this recipe for Brownie Kiss Cupcakes (recipe and photo from Taste of Home) caught my eye. I had all the ingredients on hand, so I was good to go. I mixed everything up but the baking powder that night (it was a VERY thick batter) and put it in the fridge. The next day, I mixed in the baking powder, put them in muffin tins and plopped in the left over Christmas Hershey's Kisses, and put them in the oven. As I was making Mexican Bean & Barley soup, I kept trying to smell the soup to see if it needed anything additional, but all I could smell was the brownie cupcakes, and they smelled amazing! They turned out that way too :-) Dense and chocolatey from all the cocoa, with a nice melty chocolate kiss in the middle for fun as well! Next time you need a chocolate break, this is the ticket!

Brownie Kiss Cupcakes


1/3 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
9 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. In separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Combine both mixtures. Fill greased muffin tin (or use muffin papers) with batter, about 2/3 full. Place an inverted Hershey's Kiss into the top of the batter of each cupcake. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched.